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Membership...

I've done what I can to support this site in many ways. I left the site for quite some time, for various reasons.

It's disheartening to know that people can google and have access to our posts. It's also sad to see such lack of financial support on this site and GC.com . Meanwhile people love to use the resources for free, and use them quite heavily at times.

I just joined another group I found to be useful. You can support them w/a mere $5 donation! I think we should have that option. People often value something more.....when they invest in it.

That group also requires members to Prove that they're not a bot...and an actual person that's interested in geocaching.

So...what do you think? Should we protect our valuable resources? It might take a bit more work to set it up initially.... but save a ton in the long run.

Hi SC,
I agree with you .
This subject was brought up many times. Last year, I brought it up, wondering the same exact point, And was informed and I quote" If Rick needed money , he would ask for it ."
I was a donating member and I am a premium member on gC.com.
Gc.com has plenty of money. 30.00 a year per persons that are premium Memebers, plus all the tracking numbers sold only by them. I don't think Jeremy is hurting, really.

I think Rick should get help with this site, and as soon as he asks for it, I'll be in the line of folks donating. But I do agree with your membership idea!!!!!!!

Nothing is stopping you from donating to this site at anytime, I'm sure Rick appreciates every little bit of financial help that he gets. He has 24 donating members right now out of how many people who belong here? I don't think that $240 if they each donated $10 is very much to run this site for a year. JMO

Just smile it won't crack your face

The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four persons is
suffering from some sort of mental illness. Think of your three best
friends -- if they're okay, then it's you.

I have to disagree, there are much better mays to prevent bots then a required payment and leaving the site free with the option of paying allows new members or members that may not be able to afford to pay for another membership. I think as the site grows in value to each of us we all should voluntarily offer to give to the site even before Rick asks for it.

Here I go again...

I have said this many times in this forum and to cachers in person. But I am going to say it again.

Rick manages to keep the site going with the funds that come in. I trust in the fact that if he could not handle the overage he would speak up and I know people would help out. I feel there is no more worry and maybe less with the current setup than if it were run as a business. If I became wealthy and gave Rick $50,000 to pay for the site, most likely you would notice no difference in the quality or content of the site. It's not all about the money! That's all I need to say there.

BUT MEMBERS CAN MAKE A BIGGER DIFFERENCE TO THE SITE BY CONTRIBUTING OTHER WAYS BESIDES FINANCIALLY!

The more content we can add to the site the more is is a valuable site to the community. I can't help but think of all the knowledge that the membership here contains and yet only a small percentage will contribute to site content outside of forum posts.

If our site was richer in content - stories, tutorials, bookmark lists, etc., I think you'd get more back in your investment than just donating. We need to make the site worth coming to outside of the forums. The forums are a wealth of information, but if all we have are forums anyone can do that. If the content is there, more people will enjoy the site and some will contribute financially.

I like to think the various tutorials, stats, and lists I have contributed to the site have generated more members and income than if I had just chipped in $10. You members are not dummies, everyone is capable of making this site better!

My complaints/comments were less about the money than the ease of Anyone to join these forums. Especially the spammers!! I know better than to discuss money.... let alone contributions of time and such. I've been involved w/many groups and human nature is the same Everywhere. Each of us can justify Anything.

I'd like to see the membership application/joining process change. I've had to type letters from a box. Make a small contribution w/a valid money card. Write a paragraph about why I'd like to be a member. There are Many ways to do it.

Perhaps if members felt they were benefitting a smaller and more personal community here.... the contributions might be larger? I know I'm not willing to share of all my resources, skills and experiences w/just anybody. And when I'm able to see things from this forum popping up in my google research... it shuts me down even more.

I've seen/heard similar happening w/the placement of caches. Why invest time/money into a cache so that Anyone can access it? Subjecting the cache to misuse and abuse. I know most of my caches will be listed for members only. It's sad it comes down to that at times.

Well, if content accessibility is an issue than that is a different subject in my opinion. I also would say the spammer issue is a separate issue as well, since very few spammers take an interest in what we have to offer.

If all our content and posts were hidden behind member lines, then no one would find us by Googling.

There is a little used Donating Members forum which you can post in that should be hidden from Google.

Should more or all of the forum area be restricted to members only? What about the other content on the site like articles and pages like my stats?

I just don't see the site improving if you are forced to be a member or by invite only or other restrictive means. Typing letters from a box to gain access might be ok for new members if Rick could set it up that way.

I just don't see the site improving if you are forced to be a member or by invite only or other restrictive means. Typing letters from a box to gain access might be ok for new members if Rick could set it up that way.

We get 3-4 spammers a week, but most don't post any ads/junk in the forums. Lately we seem to be getting a lot with the first name "Test". Don;t know what that's showing up all of a sudden, unless it's one person trying to hack the website. The spammers are using ISP's from all over the world.